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They say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but it's just not true. It's never too late to learn a new skill. It doesn't matter if you're hoping to further your career or just want to pick up some skills for fun. The eduCBA Tech Training Bundle has the courses you need to pick up new abilities that you've always wanted, and you can get a lifetime subscription on sale for 95% off the retail price. When you log in to the eduCBA Tech Training Bundle, you’ll see more than 800 courses, all packed with actionable and professionally-taught lessons waiting for you. Topics include programming, web development, software testing, mobile apps, networking, ecommerce, design, data and more. New courses are being added all the time so you'll never run out of skills to learn. You’ll have unlimited access to it all, including mock tests and quizzes, giving you the ability to learn whatever you’d like, whenever you'd like. Work your way through these courses that cover everything tech, from coding to design to IT and much more. A lifetime subscription to eduCBA Tech Training Bundle usually retails for $797, but you’ll pay just $39 (approx. £29). That’s a saving of 95% off the full retail price, a great deal for unlimited access to skills that could change your career, so grab it today. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: Upgrade your design skills in 2018 The best January deals for designers and artists 20 tools to make you more creative View the full article

In an increasingly digital age, an innovative business card has the power to make a real impact on a potential client, collaborator or employer. Take a chance encounter at a networking event, say. Sure, you could follow them on Twitter and give them your LinkedIn profile, but maybe the Wi-Fi is patchy – what then? A physical card in their pocket the next morning is a sure-fire way to jog their memory. Working in tandem with a brilliant design portfolio and creative resume, your business card shows people what you're about – as well as how to get in contact with you. But there are rules to abide by. Follow our commandments and make your business card the best calling card there is... 01. Thou shalt not bombard Stripped-back business card for Luka Žanić Photography designed by Studio8585 It’s very tempting to try to cram as much as possible onto your business card, trying to sum up exactly what you or your company does. Don’t. Keep it succinct, maybe with just your brand message and logo on one side and your contact details on the other. Remember, if someone has your business card, it’s very likely they have met you and already know what you’re about. A card simply serves as a reminder. So keep it simple – you just want to jog their memory and point them to your website, or somewhere they can find more information. 02. Thou shalt not be too social You exist on all social media platforms, right? So why not tell people? Well, because it's important to exercise caution. Don't put your personal Facebook or Instagram on your business card – your prospective clients don’t need to know what you had for breakfast or that you spent the weekend at the boozer. And you really don't want to direct potential clients to a Twitter stream full of work rants. Only include social accounts if they're professional. If your social media accounts show off your work and industry knowledge, go ahead – your clients will have another avenue to reach you. 03. Thou shalt not use old stock Hey Studio designed these beautiful business cards for Estampaciones Fuerte There’s nothing worse for a client or prospective employer than getting a crumpled, smudged business card that you’ve had at the bottom of your bag for months. So keep them in the box they were delivered in or get yourself a cool business card holder (you don’t have to reveal this if it seems a little over the top). Also, if your contact details have changed (maybe you’ve changed phone number) get your cards re-printed; don’t try to patch up your cards or write your new number on the back – it looks scruffy and unprofessional. 04. Thou shalt not design for everyone It’s very easy – with economies of scale – to design and print one business card for everyone, but it might not always be the best idea. Think about your client base; is it all the same kind of companies in the same kind of industries? Nope, thought not. Business cards for typography designers shouldn't look the same as business cards for UX designers, for example. So if you’re looking at pitching to more heads of marketing and fewer creative directors, tailor your cards accordingly. And if you’re pitching to luxury clients, your card needs to reflect that (check out these gorgeous examples of letterpress business cards for inspiration) as a flimsy stock will just get binned. 05. Thou shalt reinforce your brand Make your logo the only image on your business card – like Snask has done Try to make your logo or branding the only image on your business card. If you're printing double-sided (which you should do), the reverse needs to include your contact details. You are synonymous with your brand and your clients or peers need to associate you with it immediately. So don’t stray from your brand’s colours in any way – it’s just confusing. 06. Thou shalt not scrimp on legibility Make sure your name and contact details are clearly displayed – as with this card for Tag Collective Unless you’re a calligrapher, there’s no reason whatsoever to use a script font on your business card. It may look fancy but if it can’t be taken in at a glance you’ve just negated the point of your card. Our advice? For your details use a clean, sans-serif typeface. But not Arial, please. (That said, a well-chosen serif will also look fantastic.) In summary, just make sure your name and contact details are clearly displayed. And keep your main text above 8pt. 07. Thou shalt not gimmick (unless it’s a really good one) Giving your business card a gimmick is a great way to stand out – just make sure it's a good one It’s very tempting to give your business card a gimmick – and if it’s a good one that suits your business it can be a good way to stand out. Many illustrators and designers over the years have used different materials to great effect – metal, plastic, you name it. But – and it's a big but – don’t push it too far. A business card is designed to put in a wallet, purse or pocket – so an odd shape could make it hard to store and ultimately cause it to be discarded. Your card should make people people to raise their eyebrows, in a good way. 08. Thou shalt not over-complicate Go back to commandment five – where we preach about you reinforcing your brand. Oh, and go back to commandment four as well, where we tell you not to design for everyone. This commandment kind of combines the two – you need to be very careful not to influence your clients into thinking you only work in a certain style by the graphics and typography you use on your card. If in any doubt at all when going to meet prospective clients, keep your card very simple, with your mark on one side, your contact details on the other, and perhaps a special finish such as an emboss or spot varnish. 09. Thou shalt not go budget If in doubt, keep your card simple and classy – as Firmalt did for its business cards for Atelán Whatever you do, get your business cards professionally printed. Even if you have a top-of-the-line printer, your cards will still look unprofessional due to inconsistencies in cutting. Go to a local printer and explain exactly what you want – even the likes of Vistaprint offer metallic and foil finishes and spot UVs –and make sure your card is printed on top-quality stock. Costs are reasonable, and well worth it. 10. Thou shalt be original This is perhaps the most important commandment of all – the ‘thou shalt not murder’ of business card design. Whatever you decide to do with your design, make it about you. Make it original and make it memorable. Whether this is through your unique message, a well thought-out format or a subtle die-cut, make your clients remember you and ensure your card doesn't get throw into the bottom of a bag to be recycled six months later. Related articles: How to design a business card: 10 top tips 10 reasons to be happy you're a designer Best business card fails View the full article

A researcher with the Twitter handle ‘Siguza’ published details of a macOS local privilege escalation vulnerability dating back to 2002 that could give an attacker root access to systems. View the full article

VMware released three patches fixing critical vulnerabilities affecting its vSphere cloud computing virtualization platform. View the full article

The life of a happy and fulfilled designer is all about learning new skills and pushing your creative energy in new directions. But there are certain core talents everyone needs to know to get the most out of life. That's the message behind this infographic from Business Insider, which runs through 30 of the most important traits every 'grown up' should have under their belt. Ranging from money management tips to interpersonal skills, this infographic also includes artistic talents, such as picking up Photoshop tutorials. While some of these skills are a bit more difficult than others (learning a foreign languages requires a bit of travel before it truly sticks), it's worth noting that there isn't an age target on this infographic. As long as you're pushing yourself and trying new things, it's all good. One of the strengths of being a creative person is possessing a diverse range of skills, but how many of these essentials have you mastered? Click the icon in the top right of the infographic to see the full-sized version. Click the icon in the top right of the infographic to see the full-sized version While there are undoubtedly useful skills on this infographic, we can't help but think that there needs to some more artistic entries. Especially seeing as making art – any art – has been proven to improve a person's mental wellbeing. Pick up your best pencils and give it a try. View the full article

The dawn of a new year is a good time to evaluate how your career is going and how you can bring it to the next level. So what should you learn, and how? There's no easy answer. The skillsets of senior designers vary enormously, and almost everyone has knowledge gaps in some areas. In this article, we'll explore photography, animation, business skills, coding, and prototyping and UX. Whether you're a freelancer aiming to secure better commissions or a jobbing designer looking for a promotion, mastering any of these will help take your design career to the next level. We'd recommend you start by weighing up the pros and cons of the different study areas that appeal to you. Ask yourself: Do I already have some experience or knowledge in this area? How much will training cost? Can I get the boss to pay, and let me train in work time? And – perhaps most importantly: How much does it excite me? Once you've answered all these questions, your choice of what to study should be crystal clear. Read on to make 2018 the year you take charge of your design destiny. Photography Photography is an invaluable skill for all creatives Most designers can take decent pictures, and with a high-quality camera on every modern smartphone, you might think that's enough. But working to improve your photography skills can really help boost your career, says graphic designer Jacob Cass of Just Creative. "As a designer, it helps you become more aware of composition, colour, light and allows you to start thinking in a different visual medium," he points out. "It also allows you to reduce your dependency on stock photos and earn more cash by charging for your services." For Mark Dearman, design director at True, the latter was the clincher. "I was finding relying on stock photography very limiting," he explains. "Often clients wouldn't have the budget to commission their own photo shoots or bespoke illustration, so I was limited to stock. I decided to improve my photography skills to allow me to create my own assets." 01. Trial and error Learning new skills could make you feel superhuman (Illustration: Flavio Montiel) How did he go about it? "I own a lot of books by photographers and I've read plenty of articles, but it was trial and error mainly. I'd take some photos, then analyse them and work out what I needed to do to improve." "I've learnt a lot from my mistakes. There really is no substitute for taking lots of photos. I always liked the famous quote by Henri Cartier-Bresson: 'Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.'" 02. Ask questions Another thing you can do, says graphic designer and photographer Matthew Holland, is ask questions. "I'm on Twitter and Instagram a lot," he explains. "I share a lot of other people's work, ask them how they've achieved this or that, as well as reading blogs or magazines and looking at YouTube. I recently came across Digital Rev TV, who are very funny and put a great twist on learning photography." 03. Study the fundamentals In general, it's a case of practice makes perfect. "Start shooting and never stop," Cass advises. "Study the fundamentals from books and online. Understand how light works and how you can make it work for you." Once you've done that, it's time to learn how to edit your photos. There are plenty of apps available for that – take a look at our list of the best photo editor apps to figure out which is the best one for you. 04. Read up Learn what's what on your DSLR There are plenty of resources about to help you improve your photography skills, whether you're a hobbyist looking to up your game or a total beginner. If you're looking for the right tools, take a look at our guide to the best cameras for creatives. Then check out these resources: Photography cheat sheet helps unlock DSLRs' potential The best photography websites 10 ways to improve your photography How to shoot print work for your portfolio Build your first in-house photo studio Next page: Learn animation Chris Gannon makes animations like this for the web Motion graphics and animation are becoming more and more integral to design and branding, and learning those skills yourself has obvious benefits. "In simple terms it makes you more visible," explains award-winning illustrator Simon Spilsbury. "Nowadays, with moving imagery all over social media, it's even more important to have the ability to make your work move." Rob Hampson, designer at digital agency We Make Awesome Sh, had a specific reason for wanting to learn the fundamentals of animation. "I've always found explaining to clients and developers my animation ideas for UI elements quite difficult," he explains. "I thought I would learn the basics of After Effects so I could very quickly explain my ideas visually." Illustration by Flavio Montiel It's a similar story for designer and illustrator Jessica Draws. "I'd been creating static infographics, illustrations and graphics for a while," she explains. "But I noticed an interest from clients in interactive and animated videos, which I had no skills or experience in. I knew it was important to stay on top of these skills, otherwise clients were going to look elsewhere." 01. Take a course She and her husband invested in a week-long course in After Effects. "It was extremely effective, but what really pushed our skills was actually doing the work," she says. "We took on a couple of personal motion graphics projects to practise with and offered a regular client, who we were creating static infographics for, a free animated version." 02. Learn by doing "I really think the best way to learn is by doing," she says. "Don't be put off by the financial commitment. Really, you don't need to invest anything more than your time. Put some time aside each week to learn the software but set yourself a brief first as it's much easier to learn new software if you have a goal to get to." 03. Watch tutorials "There are so many great tutorials and videos online," Hampson adds. "Typically I would just video search for what I wanted to achieve in Google – something like 'create a pulse animation in After Effects'. "I prefer to watch video tutorials because I can see exactly what the author is clicking on and the micro-steps it takes them to achieve a task. This video was very useful, for example." 04. Read up Illustration by Flavio Montiel 40 amazing After Effects tutorials How to move over from Photoshop to After Effects A beginner's guide to designing interface animations How to prepare Illustrator graphics for After Effects Export After Effects animations to HTML5 Get started with animation in After Effects Understand the 12 principles of animation Next page: Illustration: Flavio MontielIt's not just creative skills that can help boost your career; getting a handle on the business side of things can be just as important. When he joined Moving Brands as a design intern, Jed Carter never thought he'd be very involved with copywriting, but it's a skill he's developed through the creation and curation of presentation decks and the agency's weekly newsletter. "It's certainly the most surprising skill I've picked up," he says. "I now understand and appreciate the fine art of crafting a sentence that has the potential to persuade someone to buy your idea." 01. Business writing John Simmons of branding and UX consultancy 3sixty was inspired to attend a business writing course from Dark Angels. "From lengthy proposals to a simple headline, we have to read and write at work," he says. "Making it compelling communicates our thinking and makes work more productive and fun." He describes the course as life-changing: "It provided a safe place to discover hidden abilities. Each of us left confident we would transfer these skills to work." 02. Analytical skills Analytical skills can also make you more useful to your employer. Yuriy Oparenko, a designer for Sennep, recently added a Google Analytics Individual Qualification to his skillset. "I've always been interested in not only making things look beautiful, but how to make them work," he explains. "Being able to understand Google Analytics allows me to learn how people behave online and make more informed design decisions." 03. Qualifications Oparenko studied through Google Analytics Academy. "I wouldn't say it's too challenging, but it requires some preparation and prior experience with Analytics," he says. "The exam is 90 minutes long and you can't pause it, so you need to dedicate a decent amount of time to it." 04. Read up Illustration: Flavio Montiel7 pricing models – and which you should choose How to work smarter not harder 20 top tools for freelancers Learn the art of negotiation How to market yourself as a freelance designer: 7 top tips How fan art can get you paid Illustration: Flavio MontielYou're a graphic designer, so you don't need to worry about web design, right? Wrong. It's an increasingly important skill for designers – and it can be the thing that sets you apart when you're competing with other designers for a job. "You can find jobs as a graphic designer if you don't know how to code, but I still think it's a crucial skill for designers – maybe even more than ever before," says freelance graphic and web designer Mirko Humbert. Don't panic, you don't need to be a fully fledged programmer, "but you do have to be 'code-literate' to do anything related to building websites or apps," says Humbert. "This is what will help you land a job, or new projects if you are a freelancer." 01. Start with free resources There are plenty of resources to get you started. Creative director Matt Rice of London studio Sennep recommends Codecademy. "It a great place to start for beginners and the lessons are free," he explains. CodePen is another good place to start experimenting. "It's a good resource for inspiration in terms of more playful things you can do with code," Rice adds. 02. Study the masters That was more or less how Rice originally approached coding. "I took people's cool experiments, looked at the code and tried to work out how they were done, or a least manipulate them to create something myself," he explains. 03. Learn by doing Coding is largely a question of learning by doing, Humbert believes. "Build real-life projects that give you results you can share in your portfolio," he advises. "For example, you can try to build a WordPress plugin that you can then share with the community, and get some feedback from an experienced developer." 04. Read up Illustration: Flavio Montiel16 top online coding courses Nail your HTML with this cheat sheet 9 of the best resources for learning HTML and CSS Illustration: Flavio MontielMany people find coding is a lot easier and more fun than they imagined, but it does depend on where your natural talents lie. If your brain just doesn't work in that way, fear not: you no longer need to be able to code to bring your interactive ideas to life. 01. Start prototyping A moving prototype is a great way to see how your design might work in reality. "Making static designs come to life helps you understand pain points in your design and discover what works and what doesn't. Some tools we've been using at Sennep include InVision, Marvel, Flinto, Pixate and Atomic," says Sennep's Matt Rice. For a more in-depth look at some tools that help you design moving prototypes without dabbling in code, look here. 02. Do an intensive workshop A related field is UX, or user experience. UX is essentially about designing systems that users find easy and pleasurable to interact with. Rosie Isbell, senior experience designer at Wolff Olins, boosted her UX skills a few years ago by completing a UX workshop run by Adaptive Path. "It was 'intensive' but really hands-on, which meant I was able to bring it back into the work I was doing the very next day," she says. "It really encouraged me to continue to focus on service and experience design and push this within my projects and career." The latest iteration of the course is called SX Intensive, and explores how to design multi-channel experiences. 03. Read up Joseph Bramall of Well Made Studio first embarked on learning UX and frontend development by searching around the web and Twitter for courses and workshops. "I ended up buying A Practical Guide to Information Architecture by Donna Spencer and going on a UX Bootcamp course run by Leisa Reichelt, who has some amazing projects under her belt. From there I went on a massive self-initiated learning drive," he recalls. "It's helped my career loads. I've been able to take more responsibility for projects, communicate better with suppliers and other designers and have more control over the way things work and who we work with." 04. Be inquisitive For those wishing to boost their UX stills, Bramall advises: "Be inquisitive, read as much as you can, and remember to focus, UX is a broad field and you won't be able to cover it all. Take small steps and you will get to where you want to be. Join UX and web design groups and take an active interest in it." 05. Read up Illustration: Flavio MontielThe 20 best wireframing tools 10 top prototyping tools How to prototype a mobile app with Adobe XD 5 ways to improve your UX design View the full article

The term 'artworker' can mean different things to different people. But in general, it's more of a technical, detail-oriented role than that of an illustrator or graphic designer, both of which are more focused on conceptual ideas and creativity. An artworker, in turn, will take those creative design concepts and edit and rework them, format them, and then package them into a finished piece of work. This usually involves such tasks as adjusting colours, tweaking typography, addressing inconsistencies, correcting spelling and grammar, and getting files print-ready. Note though, that artworking isn't just done by those with an official 'artworker' title. Even if you're a junior designer, the chances are you'll get handed a lot of artworking tasks. What artworkers do each day Dane Beasley, artworker at Hogarth Worldwide in London, offers an insight into what day-to-day life of an artworker looks like: "We work on editing documents that have already had the creative and design signed off," he explains. "We then use the rules of the client to implement a far stricter layout. "Headlines, body copy, logos and imagery should all be working together in a way that respects the client's brand guidelines and the print specifications. Everything should be aligned, with no widows at the end of paragraphs. The copy should be tracked to fit within the space required. In short, we're the middlemen between creative and design." Beasley says he's worked with a range of brands as an artworker. “The bulk of the documents I’m involved in are brand internal communications, so brochures and research documents across an array of different markets. My daily tasks range from minor copy changes, text positioning, removing unwanted letters and spaces to resizing documents, delivery checks, print/proof checks and creating first-stage artworks.” Dane Beasley's daily tasks range from minor copy changes through to delivery checks and creating first-stage artworks Artworking is usually highly formalised. At Birmingham agency LIFE, everyone has an artwork spec sheet for every job. "It's a basic guide and means nothing is missed," explains Glynn Harvey, creative artwork group head at LIFE. "You read it constantly as you artwork a job and then again before you do a PDF to print. It's vital to read, read and read again." You also need to keep communicating throughout the process, he adds. "As most jobs are time pressured, it's important everyone with a stake in the job knows and understands what stage it's at, and how much resource is required to get it to the printers." How artworkers perfect print designs That final stage, preparing files for print, is of crucial importance, says Elizabeth Lennon, artworker at Hogarth Worldwide. "I'd typically check that the artwork matches the print spec and the page size is correct with bleed on images," she explains. "I'd check the correct fonts are being used and give a quick overview of line endings. If the file has cutter and fold guides, I'd check these work correctly, but if unsure, I'd create a mock-up. "I'd also check that any spot colours will print correctly and check the colour separations in Acrobat. I'd then package the open artwork and print PDF, ready to send on through to the printer or to the client." There are a number of standard tasks you perform every time you prepare files for print, says Michele Stocks, in-house designer for PR agency Nelson Bostock. "For instance, you make sure everything's in CMYK, and that there's at least 3mm bleed. You make sure all the artwork and important information is housed within the set margins. If you haven't done this, you risk your text, artwork or logos being cut off by the cropping process, or for white lines to show around the edges of your pages because you didn't have any bleed on it." Back and forth There's also a lot of back and forth involved, Stocks adds. "You'll often have to liaise with the printers – or the clients if they're having it printed themselves – to make sure you understand the nuances of how they want it printed. "For example, with one client I have to have a specific amount of colour density, because their paper is so thin, you can't have too much colour or it won't look right." Wieden+Kennedy's FINLANDIA social media campaign was based around outstanding characters whose combined ages made 1,000 years It's also about having a wider appreciation of what the design is aiming to achieve, points out Jody Burson, artworker at Wieden+Kennedy London. "Whatever job you're working on, it's essential to know where it will sit in the world," she says. "There are different considerations when artworking a print job for a billboard poster rather than a digital file for social media or a piece of 3D packaging. Plus you always need to refer to the client's brand guidelines to ensure you're adhering to their requirements." “The FINLANDIA social media campaign [pictured above] was based around outstanding characters whose combined ages made 1,000 years,” says Burson. “I had to create individual posts for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, taking into account how they could work across all three platforms. The files were set up in the RGB colour space and all images had to be in RGB too. “I made minor adjustments to graded images to ensure the copy was legible on such busy backgrounds. I also cropped the images and considered the logo’s placement so it was consistent, adhered to brand guidelines and would be prominent enough on all types of devices.” In summary, artworking is not just a narrow technical role, but something that should draw on the broad range of your design knowledge and creative skills. "The work is often fairly meticulous, but there are also opportunities to be creative and free," stresses Burson. "Every job I work on challenges me and gives me new opportunities to learn." Harvey concurs. "It's not just sitting in front of a screen resizing ads, which is what I once thought an artworker did," he says. "You take the big creative idea and use your knowledge and experience to not only point out what can't be achieved, but to enhance projects and add that wow factor, especially with print finishes and cutter guides." Five tips to be a better artworker 01. Communicate “I’d advise any new designer to communicate properly with the print company,” says Kayleigh Cripps, marketing graphic designer at Find Me a Gift. “Every printer is different, and they all have their own set of guidelines: don’t just assume they all expect a 3mm bleed! Allow yourself extra time for error, and don’t rush.” 02. Do a test print first “I’d also strongly recommend doing a test print first, especially if you’re producing brochures, booklets, or anything else where you’ll be printing a large quantity,” adds Cripps. “It will save you time, and money, in the long run.” 03. Understand your tools “Creative suites are continually updated, so you will never know everything there is to know about a single program, like InDesign,” says Burson. “But the more you practise, the more you will discover easier and quicker ways of working.” 04. Seek advice from colleagues “Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” adds Burson. “Most of what I’ve learned has been from continually speaking to those around me and always asking questions. There are always multiple ways of achieving the same result. By speaking to others you’ll discover the most efficient.” 05. Get into a flow “Learn to focus and be methodical, as you’ll need a keen eye for detail,” says Beasley. “Feel the flow of the work and you’ll fall right into it. It can be robotic, especially handling a large amount of files, so start slow and then you’ll flow into the work a lot smoother and faster.” This article was originally published in issue 272 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy issue 272 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: The essential guide to colour correction The 10 best design books that aren't about design A designer's guide to typography and fonts The designer's guide to image editing in Photoshop View the full article

Ever wanted to design and publish your own books? We certainly have. Leading designers Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy thought the same too. So, in 2010, frustrated at mainstream publishers, they launched Unit Editions. Since then the progressive independent publishing venture has gone from strength to strength, proving with its high-quality books on graphic design that print is far from dead. The success of Unit Editions also shows that, despite the market for free ebooks, you don't have to be in the money to tackle the print sphere and publish your own books. Here, we talk to Shaughnessy about how he and Brook ventured into the world of self-publishing without losing money, and how, with a bit of self-promo savvy, you could design and publish your own books too. 01. Find your audience online Manuals 2: Design and Identity Guidelines followed hot on the heels of Unit Editions' sellout Manuals 1 The success of Unit Editions has been made possible by the internet. Bar a few bookshops around the world that the duo have a personal relationship with, the books are only available through the Unit Editions website. "If we couldn't do that, we wouldn't be here, or we'd have to borrow half a million pounds to set up a publishing company. But because of the way the internet has blown away so many barriers, we can do it," explains Shaughnessy. "We bypass [the book trade] completely and deal directly with the people who are interested in our books. So if we produce a book on, say, Total Design, the Dutch group, there's probably only 2,000 people in the world that are interested. We can find those people, through social media and the internet. If we had to use conventional media channels it would be prohibitively expensive." 02. Pool your resources Unit Editions' Type Plus investigates the practice of combining typography with images to increase effectiveness and impactWhen we spoke to Shaughnessy [in February 2015, when this article was originally published], Unit Editions had just three permanent staff: a designer, an editorial coordinator and social media specialist. However, Unit Editions is lucky in that it can also rope in extra help from the Spin team when required, to bump the numbers up to five or six. "Somebody once said a really good thing to me: nothing succeeds without the right number of people. I think you can muddle along for a while with just a few hands, but at some point you need the right number of people and I think we're moving towards that," says Shaughnessy. 03. Think global Unit Editions' Supernew Supergraphics is a collection of the best architectural, environmental and interior graphic designIn the company's early days, because money was tight, the pair outsourced printing to China. "Chinese printing is fantastic, and very sad to say, substantially cheaper than printing in the UK and Europe," says Shaughnessy. However, since then it has started printing in Europe sometimes. "I would love to print everything locally, but it does push the price up," he continues. "We'll still print in China for certain things, but where possible we'll print in the UK or Europe, simply because we get it quicker." 04. Be your own client The compact edition of Unit Editions' wildly successful deluxe version of Herb Lubalin: American Graphic Designer (1918-81)Going it alone does come with plenty of perks. "We don't have anybody breathing down our necks. We don't have anybody telling us how our covers should look or we've used the wrong colours," smiles Shaughnessy. "It goes back to our frustrations with mainstream publishers who will tell you things like: 'Oh you can't do that cover because it needs a photograph on it.' Or 'I want to see what a manual looks like.' We know designers don't need that kind of signposting, so we can just go ahead and do it, but it's having the confidence to do it. "You have to be very confident about what you're doing and also you have to be respectful of your audience. You have to know what people want and what they feel and what they think. And if you make a mistake, it's your fault – it's your problem." 05. Be prepared to put in the hours Type Only, published by Unit EditionsShaughnessy's closing advice to would-be publishers? You can do it yourself. "You can. You really, really can. The internet, social media, allows you to tell everybody that you've done this and I would just urge people to realise that they can do it themselves." That doesn't mean it's going to be easy – you'll need to be prepared to put in the legwork. "I did four hours on Christmas day," he continues. "I can't step off the treadmill at all. It's constant, constant work. But it's what I want to do, so I don't find it a strain. So I would say to people: just do it yourself, if you can!" Watch the interview Watch the rest of our interview with Adrian Shaughnessy of Unit Editions in the video above. This article was originally published in Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Subscribe to Computer Arts here. Liked this? Try these... How to design a contemporary book cover The 10 best design books that aren't about design 26 books every graphic designer should read View the full article

You may be forgiven for thinking that the Oculus Rift VR headset was created solely for use as a gaming device. That is no longer the case, as there are now lots of creation tools springing up, including VR sculpting and painting apps. This project will show you how virtual reality can be used in a character concept pipeline. We will explain how to sculpt in VR and how to paint a character model, in this case a robot from a mining colony. We will be using a few concept sketches and paintings that are imported as reference planes. The final model and scene is 'photographed' in VR with a number of different lighting scenarios. These are then taken into Photoshop for compositing into a final render. The software we will be using is Oculus Medium, which is an immersive virtual reality experience that lets you sculpt, model, paint and create objects in a VR environment. The software enables you to create expressive works of art, whether you're a total beginner, an aspiring creative or a professional artist. Using Oculus' Touch controllers enables the user to employ intuitive hand gestures and movement for a natural, tactile experience. The final sculpt will be a character that can be posed and exported with painted colour detail, for use in another app or for 3D printing. 01. Set up Oculus Rift Take a while to get your VR legs before jumping in The video to accompany this tutorial (which you can download here) is recorded in VR and the experience that you will see on screen is not representative of the full experience. Once you have your Oculus Rift and sensors all set up it would be beneficial to spend some time understanding how to hold and use the controllers. Open up Oculus Medium. The first video starts as we enter the Oculus Medium scene. 02. Import reference images Find some robot concept art to use as reference On your computer, look for the default Medium folder and look for a folder called _Import. In there you will find a folder for images and a folder for meshes. For this tutorial we bring in some robot character concept art to use as a guide in the scene. Pull back on the Support hand thumbstick and click the reference button at the bottom of the panel, which resembles a book. This will bring up the References panel. Click Import to add any images that have been saved to the _Import folder. They are now available to use as reference. 03. Add the reference imagery to the scene Select 'Move with sculpt' for your reference images After selecting the images you imported, they should appear in the VR scene. Pull back on the Support hand thumbstick to exit the reference panel. To move an image, click on one and it will display a green outline to show it is selected. Pressing the green button on your Tool hand will bring up options for the reference image. Now hit the green gear button and select 'Move with sculpt'. Move the reference image to a position that works for you and enables you to model in front of it, and repeat this for each of the reference images. You can also delete images from the scene using this options panel. If you don't select 'Move with sculpt' the image will lock to a position in the scene. This can be useful for adding signs and graphics to your VR scene. 04. Block out the base of the robot Enable the mirror function to save time on your sculpt We will do a very rough layout model. Push forward on your Support hand thumbstick to bring up the tool radial menu and make sure you have the Clay tool selected. Pressing the trigger on the Tool hand adds clay to the scene. As the robot is symmetrical, we need to enable the mirror function by clicking the yellow control panel button on the Support hand and selecting Mirror. 05. Change default stamps You can customise the brush shape to suit your needs We started sculpting with the Clay tool and with a default sphere shape. Although this is the most basic sculpting tool in Medium, it can be customised with a variety of different brush shapes. To change brush shape, press the green gear button on the Tool hand controller and at the top of the panel you will find the default brush shapes. Select one to make it the active shape at the end of your sculpting tool. Medium comes with a large catalogue of stamps, which are located in the menu below the default brush shapes. 06. Split the model into parts Split your model into layers using the Cut tool Use the Cut tool and slice up the model, which automatically creates a new layer for each part. Push forward with the Support hand thumbstick and select the Cut tool on the radial menu. Remove the head first by moving the line through the neck while pressing the Tool hand trigger down. If you have done it correctly the head will be in a separate layer. 07. Navigate layers Make sure you know which layer is which Pull back the Support hand thumbstick and make sure you have the Layers panel selected, the first button on the row of icons at the bottom. From here you can rename, delete and merge your layers. For example you can use the eye icon next to the layer to hide individual layers as you work. If you point your Tool hand at a part and hit the trigger, you will automatically select the relevant layer, indicated by the yellow highlight. To cut a particular layer, re-select the main layer and continue cutting the model into individual parts. 08. Adjust environment settings With the scene settings you can configure the world to your liking So far we have been using the default environment settings. You may want to configure your environment to suit your own style. To do this, pull back on the Support hand thumbstick and click the button that resembles the world. From here you can change the sun colour, adjust the sun brightness, turn off the Skybox and change the background colour. You can also turn off the ground plane and just see the background colour you have chosen. Configure the world to suit your style and play around with the settings until you are happy. 09. Adjust material settings Each model per layer can have its own material, enabling you to mix things up Seeing as though we are making a robot, let's change the material to a metal shader. You can set a material for each model per layer so you will have to choose each layer and adjust it to suit. To do this make sure you are on the Layer menu again, then select the part you wish to change the material of. With the layer selected, press the green settings button on your Tool hand. On this menu, change the material by clicking Metal at the top middle. Now you can change the roughness, diffuse settings and the occlusion of the material. 10. Pick a colour Use the colour palette to choose colours, or just grab one you've already used with the colour picker As we are about to start working on each layer at a more accurate level, we might want to change the colour as we go along. Make sure you have the Clay tool activated and click the colour palette button on the Tool hand. Use the picker from the top to select an existing colour from your sculpt, or select black or white. Any clay you add from now will be the colour you have selected. 11. Increase layer resolution Make your sculpt less blocky by increasing the resolution For some areas of the model that carry a lot of detail, you may notice that when adding clay, the resulting brush stroke is blocky and jagged. To solve this, it is worth increasing the resolution of the layer. Go to the Layer menu. On the right-hand side, you can find the Increase Res option to increase the resolution of the selected layer. Every time this is done, the layer bounding box gets smaller, increasing the density of the voxel grid. Doing this in a physically large layer could result in it being cropped to fit inside the bounding box. 12. Apply clay in strokes Create a continuous brush stroke by holding down the Tool hand trigger If you hold down the Tool hand trigger with the Clay tool selected and move your hand, this will create a continuous brush stroke. This can be changed by pressing the green gear icon on the Tool hand and selecting a single stamp at the top right of the panel. You can also enable line mode, which will lock the brush stroke along a line that protrudes from the Tool hand. 13. Define the shape of the torso Use sphere and cube brushes to create the chest and abdomen To begin creating the detailed parts of the robot we will make a start with the torso. Looking at the reference start building up the shape using the library of stamps at your disposal. Make sure mirror is activated as shown earlier. Use a combination of the sphere and cube brushes to create the form of the chest and abdomen. To subtract parts of the model double-click the green gear button and the colour of the shape at the end of the tool will turn red. This will now remove clay from the sculpt and can be used to create shaped recesses in the sculpt surface. 14. Use the line mode to add bars Lay down protective bars in line mode At the bottom of the torso we want to add some protective bars. Use the cube stamp for a hard edge and go into tool settings and select the line mode. Lay down the bars and make sure they intersect where needed. Edges can be neatened by using the subtract clay mode in conjunction with the line tool to remove clay from the sculpt and to add a chamfer to the edges of that layer. 15. Utilise stamps Try combining stamps to create interesting effects Press the green gear button to bring up the Tool Options menu. There are a large range of stamps available, arranged by category. For this project we will mainly be using the Mechanical stamps. When using a stamp, the shape added will reflect the resolution of the layer you stamp it on. Try a range of stamps in add and subtract modes to create interesting shapes. Next page: Finish off your VR character 16. Create the shape of the head Build your robot head out of mechanical stamps Make sure you have the head layer selected and pick some stamps that give you a cylinder and the rim for the shape of the head. Mechanical stamps are a great place to start for stamps of this nature. For the top of the head layer we use the subtract mode to create the hollow in the top. Use basic square shapes to add the grids at the front. This is best done with the 'single' brush mode. 17. Add shoulder pads Put the shoulder pads in their own layer so you can position them separately to the arms The shoulder pads can be created using some of the built-in stamps. Choose a shape that reflects that curved shape and apply to a new layer. This means you can position the shoulders separately to the arms. The shoulder pads on the concept appear to have a rough surface, so we can add the rough texture using a basic Clay tool with an organic stamp. Using the 'surface' mode found under the Brush Options menu, the brush can be applied directly to the surface of the model. The stamp will follow the surface normals. 18. Define the shape of the arms Change the brush size with the Tool hand thumbstick The arms are made up in the same way as the rest of the sculpt. The best stamps to use here are still the Mechanical ones. Start by creating some cylinders using the line brush method to create the basic arm structure. Remember you can push forward or pull back with the Tool hand thumbstick to increase and decrease the size. Add a lot of visual interest with really complex stamps and make sure that the layer resolution is set high enough before adding clay in order to avoid rough or jagged edges. 19. Establish the shape of the hands Model the hand separately from the arm if that makes life easier for you The hands are made using a combination of stamps. Add a block of clay to represent the base of the hand. Add in lots of disk shapes to represent the knuckles and each finger joint, followed by small cylinders to represent each finger bone. Add a thumb on the side in the same way. You can split the model down further if you like and use the Cut tool to separate the hand from the arm. We only need to make one arm and leg as we will be duplicating and mirroring the limbs across the world axis. 20. Define the shape of the legs Check to make sure your legs pose looks good from the side The legs are comprised of very simple shapes, compared to the upper body. They are basically a group of cylinders with some complexity to add detail. Make sure when you are building them that you get the pose correct from the side. Adding cogs and wheel shapes among other greeble to the back of the knee gives the sense of a functioning robot joint. 21. Determine the shape of the feet Adjust the position of the feet to ensure that the pose maintains balance The feet of the robot are essentially a metal cage. Using a cube or square stamp, select the line brush mode. Begin to create the base shape of the cage, remembering to adjust the layer resolution as needed to ensure that the edges are crisp. Keep adjusting the position of the sculpt's feet to ensure that the pose maintains balance. To do this, select the foot or leg layer you wish to move, then using the inner grips of the controllers, you can move that layer around independently from the rest of the model. 22. Add high levels of detail Use the Smooth tool to cover up seams and jagged edges Once the shapes for all the layers have been defined, any additional details can be added, as well as sharpening any edges which are jagged due to low resolution. The Smooth tool can also be used to blend any seams together, where different brushes meet. Remember to make sure that layers don't clip due to bounding boxes shrinking when increasing resolution. 23. Photograph inside Medium There are plenty of options for capturing images and footage of your sculpt There are a few methods to capture images from inside Oculus Medium. You can capture stills, record video or record live scenes for playback in VR. These methods can be accessed by pressing the yellow control panel button on the Support hand. When capturing a photo or video, the camera can be locked to the sculptor's hand, to follow the headset or free float in the scene. This last method is useful as you can take multiple exposures of the same scene using different materials or lighting setups in a way that is similar to multi-pass rendering. These 'passes' can be combined to create interesting effects in Photoshop. 24. Paint and comp Take lots of photos them comp them in Photoshop In the Control Panel there is a Photo button. Lower the FOV to 0 to stop distortion. Lock the Photoframe to the world with the small Globe icon. Hit the Photo button to take a picture. Now move the lighting and retake. Keep repeating until you are happy. These images were brought into Photoshop where I composited them using the VR Photographs and layer blend modes. 25. Export for other programs Medium can export in FBX and OBJ formats The options for export can be found by pressing the yellow Control Panel button on the Support hand and selecting Export. The options include the ability to reduce polycount through a process called decimation, which involves setting a target polycount that the application will try to match. The formats you can export as are FBX and OBJ with the ability to export colours as a texture map or by vertex colour. With these options you should be able to export the file in a format that most software is able to read. This article was originally published in issue 228 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 228 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: 13 tips for making a VR gaming world Convert a photo into a VR set 5 tips for sculpting in double-quick time View the full article

There’s really no limit to how much you can learn when it comes to drawing and painting animals. However, this workshop will be less about how to draw anatomy and technical approaches and more about how to boost your art and take it to the next level. Spending too much time working on mastering techniques and lead you away from prioritising stories and original approaches, resulting in strong painting skills, but fewer good ideas. Mastering the skill of creating personal art can significantly boost your own commercial artworks. This workshop will give you some useful tips and tools, so you can turn up your art and character designs a notch. After all, every artist wants the viewers to care about their art. Hopefully, these tips can help you make progress in that direction. 01. Repeat, repeat, then repeat again It takes a lot of goes to get the perfect sketchI rarely nail a sketch at the first attempt, so don’t be afraid to produce several revisions. I’m a perfectionist (for better or for worse), so over the years I’ve developed a habit for revisions. It’s become a good habit, because I’m not only improving with every sketch I make, but I also end up with lots of versions I can go back to, merge together with a new one, and create the best possible results. 02. Be creative with your selfies Selfies are a perfect source of referencesStudy yourself in the mirror, or record yourself on video. It’s beneficial to make creatures feel more human, which can be influenced by our own expressions. I like doing this, since I get an excuse to make funny faces without being questioned by people who think they know better. 03. Study real animals There are a fair few animal videos on the internet you can studyWatch photos, online videos and nature programmes, study your own pets. Why not try recording them in different situations? After all, a frozen frame from a video is much more authentic and natural than a staged photo. 04. Be personal Use your life to inform your artYour memories and life experiences are priceless. Find your inspiration and tell your own stories through your characters or creatures. What makes you smile, laugh or cry? Consider adding your own pet to your art, or maybe something funny and embarrassing? I tend to draw lots of horses, foxes and cats, since I used to be one of those typical girls who hung out a lot at the stable, and the fox is a common animal here in Sweden. And I see our two silly cats doing stupid things every day, so it’s hard not to get inspired by that! 05. Don't be afraid to ask 'what if...?' Keep your work spontaneousTake my piece with the tiger chasing the balloon for instance. It all started with that tiger alone, reaching for something. I wanted to try something different, and started thinking that it would be hilarious to paint something about a tiger and a scared balloon. Totally random! Asking “what if?” helps you explore more ideas, for creating interesting creatures and characters. 06. Know your anatomy Anatomy can be accurate and exaggeratedThe anatomy doesn’t have to be 100 per cent perfect. But it does still has to be believable. Luckily, many animals share similar anatomy, so you only need to figure out the significant features of the specific animal you’re drawing: proportions, posture, significant details and so on. The bones and limbs are attached in a similar way, so if you learn how to draw one animal, you’ll get a shortcut to a bunch of other ones, too. 07. Play with light to add story Lighting can communicate different moodsTry out different variations before settling on the final one. Think about the mood, and ask yourself, what do you want to say with your piece? Cute or romantic pieces work well with a sunny, backlit magic hour light, while dark, hard shadows may be more suitable to indicate danger. Study colour scripts for films to see how the studios have solved certain situations and moods. Using actual photos as a base for colours is also helpful if you want to create realistic lighting. 08. Remember Pinterest can inspire, but also trap Don't get sucked into the world of PinterestDon’t get too caught up in browsing other artists online for inspiration. Sites like Pinterest or gallery sites like ArtStation are great for boosting your own inspiration, but I would always say to use your own stories and ideas as a base. This is something I’m constantly working on. 09. Include a sense of interaction Interactions are a brilliant way to tell a storyI like art where you can see some kind of emotion in the characters, because that’s something we all can relate to. The characters or creatures can be cuddly, comforting, angry, sad… It doesn’t really matter, as long as you feel something. Take the painting I Love You Bro (above) for instance: some couples have said to me that they remind them of their kids, or even themselves. 10. Use strong body language Body language says as much as a facial expressionIt all starts with definite body language, so try to nail that before diving into the details such as facial expressions. To help do that, try to imagine how your character would pose themselves if it didn’t have a face. I know that sounds a bit creepy, but it makes sense, since body language tells you much more than one might think. Play around with different poses in your rough sketches, then you’ll be able to pin-point which one will be the most suitable to tell your character’s or creature’s story. 11. Paint glossy, realistic but cartoony eyes 12. Ensure that viewers can relate to your paintings Timing can make a piece relatableWith my Hobbit cats piece, people could relate to it because it was funny and familiar. I even used my own cats as models. Things just suddenly fell into place – my cats resembled Bilbo and Gollum! It’s not a coincidence that I painted this during the same time as The Hobbit was showing at the cinemas. The timing was perfect and inspiration struck hard. 13. Use economic brush strokes Transparency can make brush strokes look more confidentOne way to make paintings or sketches look cleaner is to lock the Transparency on some of the layers and keep painting within brush strokes. I do this a lot to keep things nice and clean, and the brush strokes look much more confident. This technique can also be a lot of help when painting hair or fur. You’ll gain more control over smaller strains of hair, whiskers, eyebrows and so on. 14. Visualise the line of action Lines of action are useful for conveying moodsTry to think of your character or creature as one simple line of action and build the pose around that. This goes hand in hand with my tip on body language (see number 10). Straight lines indicate a more aggressive pose, while softer curves exude a sense of calm. 15. Work with a limited colour palette Single colours really leap of the screenExperiment and see what complementary colours work with your piece. I like to decide on one significant colour and let that be the most saturated one. And I pick a less-saturated complementary one to support it. The fastest way for me is to start with a monochromatic painting and save the bright colours to the last. Or just settle with the monochromatic scheme. This article was originally published in issue 140 of ImagineFX magazine, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: 7 must-know painting techniques for artists 20 best album covers of 2017 13 imaginative web comics to inspire you View the full article

Hey, it’s OK to be a dummy sometimes; especially when it comes to the complexities and nuances of the increasingly vast Adobe Creative Cloud suite. So as a creative (or indeed anyone whose career or hobbyist interests rely on making things with image and text that look clear and pretty) what better gift than the power of mastering these essential tools? What’s great about this particular well-known brand of reference guides is that it’s written by experts, rather than writers speaking to experts (so in this case, designers). As such, the tips and guidance are spelled out in a way that’s not only comprehensible to those in the design industry, but in a way that is tailored to those looking to work in it. The authors Jennifer and Christopher Smith certainly have pedigree: Jennifer is a UX consultant, designer, educator, and author of 12 or so books on digital imaging and web publishing; while Christopher is president of the American Graphics Institute and author of numerous books on web, interactive, and print publishing technology, including many official Adobe training guides. Seven mini-books Adobe Creative Cloud All-in-One For Dummies (Second Edition) is divided into seven mini-books across a hefty 800 pages, and covers InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Photoshop CC, Acrobat Pro, Adobe Bridge, and Adobe XD. While there’s no doubt this book is aimed more at those at the beginning of their creative software journey, it’s undoubtedly helpful for those already proficient in their tools. There's advice on using advanced features, and of course, helping a Photoshop whizz incorporate other tools and work across different programmes to make their lives easier and their work sparkle. What’s potentially off-putting for a book about how to design well is that it certainly isn’t the most beautiful, or indeed well-designed book we’ve ever seen: the icons are ugly; and the typographic decisions leave a lot to be desired. It’s also slightly misleading to bill the title as as 'all-in-one', when it doesn’t actually cover programmes like Lightroom, Premiere Pro and After Effects. But in fairness, it’s probably wise to master the less complex programmes before tackling moving image and animation software. Adobe Creative Cloud All-in-One For Dummies is certainly aimed more at the beginner end of the spectrum, although there’s definitely a few gems in here for the more advanced. However, it might take a bit of slightly frustrating rifling through this hefty tome to get there. Related articles: Review: Dieter Rams - Ten Principles for Good Design 26 books every graphic designer should read 5 must-read books for design students View the full article

With the new year upon us, we can’t think of a better way to refresh your workflow with our brilliant masterclasses and workshops at Vertex, our event to bring the CG community together! We have a broad range of sessions to attract any artist and they’ve been carefully curated. From games and VFX through to VR, we’ve covered all the bases including character concepting, real-time creation and more. You’ll be able to take away skills to upgrade your skills immediately with leading industry pros and learn from the world’s best creative studios no matter which area you specialise in. Glen Southern - Creation for VR, in VR VR genius Glen Southern will be showing the process of concepting a character, using tools such as Oculus Medium in his ‘Creation for VR, in VR’ workshop. This will cover initial setup, learning the UI and setting good practice rules for working in this space, then will look at sculpting in 3D, using stamps and navigating with your body and hands, as well as texturing and output for other formats, including 3D printing. Adam Dewhirst - How to build a human in one day Modelling supervisor Adam Dewhirst from The Mill New York will teach you how you can create a digidouble in less than 24 hours in his workshop ‘How to build a human in one day’. Using a range of techniques from photogrammetry and mesh wrapping to The Mill’s custom human rig, Dewhirst will delve into The Mill’s ‘master human set up’, and highlight how they’re investigating the future challenges of CG human models. Saddington Baynes - Mass customisation of visual imagery Saddington Baynes CEO Chris Christodoulou and senior digital artist Marc Shepard will present everything you need to know about the mass customisation of visual imagery and discuss how technology can help creativity to flourish. The duo will demonstrate the technical backbone and processes that sit behind mass customisation, alongside the tools and software that can help artists work faster (with emphasis on Maya and Nuke). A High Elf from Total War: Warhammer Danny Sweeney – Total War: WARHAMMER character development From Creative Assembly is character artist Danny Sweeney who will reveal some of the workflows and challenges of working on the game Total War: WARHAMMER 1 & 2. Sweeney will talk about the character development pipeline and techniques at Creative Assembly, as well at how some of the High Elf, Dark Elf, and Skaven units were developed, re-purposing existing assets, detailing your high-poly sculpts, creating hair and fur within technical limitations, creating ragged cloth, getting the most out of your UVs and more. Bader Badruddin – A Blue Zoo masterclass in Cartoony CG Character Animation for TV Blue Zoo series animation director Bader Badruddin will be revealing the animation secrets of the award-winning studio. Badruddin will take you through a shot from beginning to end showing you the thought process behind animating a character shot in a short amount of time without sacrificing quality. Forget everything you were told about how to animate and get ready for a fresh new way to approach your work. Mike Griggs - 3D fundamentals workshop CG generalist Mike Griggs will bring his 20 years of CG experience to Vertex in his 3D fundamentals workshop. Following his popular Bootcamp, Fundamentals and Basics sections in 3D World, Griggs will guide you through the process of laying down the foundations of becoming an efficient and effective artist. Don’t miss out, book your ticket now at vertexconf.com. There are still some amazing workshops we’ve yet to announce so keep an eye on our website, where you can also find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more. Read more: Why Vertex is a must for CG artists How to land your dream job in 3D 12 mighty Maya tutorials to try today View the full article

User experience is not magic. You don’t run a simple test that Becky the marketing intern read a blog about once and uncover quick-fix solutions to generate huge growth. UX strategy is a science: a science that has been around since long before the first computer blipped into existence and long before UX became a buzzword. All scientific theories begin as a hypothesis. The assumption of purpose. Why are these events happening? Then you test the hypothesis by collecting data to validate or invalidate the hypothesis. It then becomes a theory. 10 essential tools for freelance UX designersA theory is a validated explanation of why something is happening. A theory is not based on bias, nor is it based on what 
the loudest person in the room is saying. It’s based on factual data collected through a replicable method. Without that structure, it’s easy to run a test and fallback on confirmation bias, or data manipulation, to get the feedback you want. That’s not how this works. We don’t control the outcome. We find a means to communicate the complex nuance of user behaviour in a simple way. Sometimes the data proves us wrong and that’s OK. The goal isn’t to always be right; it’s to uncover the facts. Google User Explorer is a great first step in formulating ideas on what users want and how they expect to find it User data solutions like Google Analytics rely heavily on assumption. You can export records and use a service like IBM Watson to find correlating trends. However, don’t confuse data with fact. Predictive modelling or assumptions are the first step, but they don’t answer the golden question of why. Why a user is motivated to take an action is the central focus of UX. This is the inherent problem with user experience. Everyone thinks they have all the answers. UX then becomes guided by perception bias. Think of it this way. The sales team thinks they know what customers want to buy and the marketing team thinks they know how to convince customers they want it. Management has an approved budget based on what 
they assumed the teams would need a year ago and it likely didn’t include budget for UX research. Sound familiar? Each organisation, department or employee has their own perspective on what should be done based on their own experience with customers. The problem is they’re all right. The bigger problem is that they’re all wrong too. Organisations that fall into this perception trap often find themselves avoiding the conflict of a heated debate and try to serve everyone. The problem with trying to serve everyone is that you’re not serving anyone. The job of user experience is to remove that bias and help the group to understand a bigger picture: the needs and expectations of the customer. So how can we reframe the conversation and make it less about opinion? Let data do the talking. Collecting data The process of collecting data is misunderstood by the vast majority of people. It does not need to be devoid of emotion, nor does it need to focus strictly on usability. What it needs to have is a purpose. What kinds of data are you collecting and why? There are two core types of data to collect: Qualitative: Non-numerical, emotional feedback from participants – think first reactions or personal opinion-based feedback. What you liked and why, and descriptions instead of numbers. Qualitative = quality. Quantitative: This is numerical, scientific feedback – 'Perform this action and rate the ease of completing the action on a scale of one to 10'. This is the basis for systems like Net Promotor Score (NPS). Quantitative = quantity. Quantitative data If you’re tasked with creating a baseline for customer satisfaction on member sign-up or checkout in a shopping cart you’re going to need quantitative data. This lets you collect unbiased numbers that show a clear progression from where you began to where you ended months or years later. This is crucial in showing the importance of investing in UX within an organisation. Many organisations will see the initial improvement and not understand the value in retesting. Seeing an increase in signups, revenue or drop in support requests is fantastic but there are many variables that could influence results. Attribution is your friend. It’s also the friend of the departments that you will be working with to showcase explicitly that the testing performed and subsequent changes were validated. This goes back to the scientific validation we discussed earlier. Collect the data, make the change and validate that the change was accurate. If it wasn’t, create a hypothesis as to why it wasn’t and begin again. The trick is to always try to prove something wrong. Qualitative data If you’re redesigning a consumer facing website without a long-term UX plan it may be okay to focus on qualitative feedback: descriptions and emotions. This works well for design-centric UX like landing pages for marketing or blogs. This does not work well for long-term strategy as trends are fluid. What works today for a tested demographic may not work well next year, so be careful. Set up targeted questions to get feedback on crucial pages in your UX flow Qualitative feedback is harder to distil into strategy because what users say they want and what they actually want are two completely different things in most cases. It requires a lot of foresight into when to peel back the layers of feedback and dig deeper with follow-up questions or facilitation. Without the context of motivation, you become trapped in a feedback loop. This tends to lead down the perception trap again. If you’re stuck without direction you will try to find meaning in the data by applying bias. Once that happens, you focus on the wrong meaning and the data becomes useless. Finding the right meaning Let’s take a look at another example: Tenants in a New York office building would complain because, in their opinion, there was too much time in-between pressing the button and when the elevator would arrive, ding and open. Several tenants threatened to move out. They wanted a faster elevator to solve the problem. This is qualitative feedback and emotional responses. Management requested a feasibility study to determine cost and effectiveness, which means hard numbers and quantitative data. A different perspective from someone in the psychology field focused on the tenants’ core needs by digging deeper than their initial feedback. They 
ignored the numeric feedback of the financial study because it was not cost-effective to replace the elevator and rebuild the structure to accommodate the tenant’s suggestions. Once you understand the needs of your customers you can quickly map out the most intuitive path to their solution The psychologist determined that finding a way to occupy the tenants’ time would offset this frustration. They suggested installing mirrors in the landing area. The manager agreed due to the low cost and quick fix to see what would happen. Miraculously, the complaints stopped. Now you see mirrors installed in hotels and office lobbies throughout the world as a cost-effective way to appease the frustration of elevator users. Your data is only as valuable as the questions you ask and to whom you ask them. Asking the right questions Let’s assume you are in the process of redesigning a website for a client. You’ve been asked to perform a user test to help define the direction the design needs to take. Think broad stroke details: colours, fonts, layout, sizing and so on. You propose a qualitative test. Don’t compose a questionnaire for the survey without thinking about how a user may first respond. This is why you need to formulate your hypothesis first. It provides important direction. If you want to collect feedback on three website homepages you could run a set of questions and repeat them for each. The repetition is important for collecting similar feedback on each website. But what would those questions be exactly? If you test 10 participants and eight of them come back with completely different feedback it makes your job harder than it needs to be and falls back on bias to prioritise the data. Ask questions that are very pointed to get actionable feedback. Instead of asking 'What do you like about the homepage?' ask 'Without scrolling, do you know what this website is marketing?' Instead of asking 'What do you like about the menu navigation?' ask 'Looking at the menu, is it clear this website has information on careers?' You also have to factor in how you propose the questions. Is the question that you’ve asked leading them toward the goal itself? For example: Leading: 'Find the careers link in on the top of the page. Click on it to view information about the available careers.' Less leading: 'What link at the top of the page would you click on to view information about the available careers?' Ideal: 'How would you expect to locate information about the available careers on this website?' Instead of guiding the user towards a goal, you are moving the decision-making back onto the user themselves. From this, you will get a better understanding of how that user, and their specific demographic segment, will expect to navigate the website. If you asked one of the first two questions you lose out on all of that data. It’s not always about the question you ask, but how you ask it that defines the result. If you are unable to compose such defined questions, you are moving too quickly through the process. Take a step back and think about the pain points of the users in which you’re trying to communicate. Each decision you make should be working toward providing an effective solution for not only the business but their customers as well. Organisational UX maturity At Candorem we have a straightforward system for understanding the UX maturity of our clients. This enables us to quickly define the need for additional data collection, what type of data to collect and how quickly we can begin providing guidance. It’s also a great way of understanding the existing perception of the value of investing in UX. This can also break down into four core levels of data that they will have available for us to start assessments. Level 1 data: Google Analytics 
and heatmaps Level 2 data: Curated customer data (email, gender, location and purchase history by customer segment) Level 3 data: Customer survey data (likes, dislikes, ratings and interest levels), anonymous website recordings Level 4 data: User testing sessions, customer persona profiles and quantitative data Businesses will have some variation of what we’ve outlined above. If they don’t, get them set up with Level 1 and allow adequate time for collection of some low-level data. Mining this data is crucial in creating your own hypothesis. When an organisation unfamiliar with the nuance of UX defines the goals for a project without supporting data to guide them, it limits the potential outcome. Setting a goal is easy, but defining the right path takes time and experience. Increasing revenue is not a goal, it’s an idea. Set specific goals like increasing revenue ten per cent for a segment of customers aged 24-35 that are shopping for a specific category of product. This consists of specific requirements that can be tested to generate a hypothesis, validated to create a theory and initial baseline, and then retested to validate the plan for growth over time. User experience is about understanding the needs and expectations of your customer and collecting the necessary data to tell the story in an unbiased way. This article originally appeared in net issue 298; subscribe here. Related articles: 11 huge web design trends for 2018 Quiz: What CSS framework should you use? The 14 most exciting open source projects on the web View the full article

On 23 June 2016, the UK voted in favour of leaving the European Union and putting restrictions on the free movement of EU citizens into the country. While Parliament is currently collating its report from an inquiry on ‘The impact of Brexit on the creative industries, tourism and the digital single market inquiry’, some are already considering the effects that Brexit will have on the VFX and CG industries. The creative industries According to the Creative Industries Federation (CIF), the creative sector makes £87bn a year that would be at risk if we were to restrict immigration and movement, due to the industry’s heavy reliance on freelance staff, many of whom are from the EU. A survey of 250 firms conducted by the CIF found that three quarters of companies employed EU workers and two-thirds said they could not fill those jobs with British recruits. With the potential restriction of talent from EU countries, the visual effects and animation industry in the UK will undoubtedly be heavily affected. In 2014, the then-business secretary Vince Cable said: “The UK’s creative industries are amongst the strongest in the world, worth £71.4 billion per year to the UK economy and supporting more than 1.7m jobs. Visual effects and games in particular are a great British success story.” UK & Ireland is also currently the largest market for animation in the EU with average 30.5 million admissions between 2010 and 2014. Impact on employment In a recent interview with 3D Artist, Blue Zoo cofounder Tom Box said: “We noticed that out of everyone that applied for animation roles in our studio, less than 10 per cent were of a standard we’d consider ready for employment.” “I heard same from other studios too. This is tens of thousands of people which is crazy when there’s a skills shortage and studios are struggling to recruit. This will be amplified with Brexit closing off freedom of movement because an average 35% of studios’ staff are non-UK.” According to Creative Skillset, employment in the VFX industry is expected to reach 7,600 in 2022 with the gross value of production in the UK expected to rise from to £323m by 2022. Some of the shots in Star Wars: The Last Jedi were completed by UK studio Jellyfish Pictures The level of EU talent Phil Dobree, head of Jellyfish Pictures, said in an interview with The Guardian: “If the industry is among the world’s very best it is because it has easy access to the very best. More than 30% of people working in the UK sector, including at Jellyfish, are EU nationals. Brexit could wreck that.” Jellyfish Pictures recently completed work on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as well as having previously worked on Black Mirror and Rogue One. “We have EU animators, modellers, riggers, lighters, compositors, CG supervisors,” Dobree said to The Guardian. “All the key skill areas. From Spain, Italy, France; from junior to very senior. These people are difficult to train and extremely sought after.” “Often, when you’re doing a short-term job – a commercial, a TV series – you need people for a month or two.” “Right now, we can fly them in pretty much the next day. So what happens after 2019?” Opportunities abroad On Sky News, Manuel Reyes Halaby, a computer graphics supervisor, said that the uncertainty over his immigration status has made him consider other options. “It makes me feel uncertain about what is going to happen, so you start checking out other possibilities.” “There are all the other places in the world you can work, and there’s a lot of work going on, so you always tend to have more cards up your sleeve.” While the UK is currently a global powerhouse for visual effects, if the talent from the rest of the continent cannot live and work in the country, then they will simply look for opportunities elsewhere and take the quality of work with them. As Dobree concludes in The Guardian, “Britain’s CG and VFX industry will simply move on.” Scott Ross will be speaking at Vertex about VFX after Brexit Hope for the future But at a select committee culture secretary Karen Bradley says, it’s not all doom and gloom: “I have met a number of people in the creative industries – I’m not going to say who they are as it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say – who have told me that they’re not worried about the loss of freedom of movement because they believe the sector will thrive.” At Vertex 2018, Digital Domain cofounder and industry veteran Scott Ross will discuss British VFX after Brexit with 3D World Editor Rob Redman. Ross will offer up his insights into the way studios are managed, people/talent are recruited, trained, cared for, as well as the logistics of modern VFX houses. He will look at what is considered to be a threat: the workforce, which is historically a migratory one and how non-UK nationals might find that they are just as able to work for the big studios as they do now but also how a non-EU based trade deal could open up opportunities for other partnerships. Listen to his expert views at the Olympia, London on 13 March. Book your ticket now at vertexconf.com, where you can find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more. Read more: 30 free 3D models Network with industry experts at Vertex The ethics of digital humans View the full article

From pencil drawings to bold photography, this year's best album covers showcased a huge range of styles. It was a year where album covers sparked debate (three releases in the first half of the year prompted us to ask whether we had entered the era of bad graphic design), and it seems the way in which music artists package and present their work is more important than ever. Take a look at our pick of the best album cover designs from the past 12 months. 01. Björk – Utopia Utopia is a strange and inspiring work of art Björk returned with her ninth studio album this year, and as one of the most visually compelling artists around, her album cover artwork was of course breathtaking. The Icelandic songwriter teamed up with self-taught artist and musician Jesse Kanda, who has previously worked with the likes of FKA Twigs and Arca. 02. Girlpool – Powerplant Jaxon Damme produces another illustrative wonder for Girlpool Jaxon Damme has worked with LA duo Girlpool for the past few years, producing hand-drawn, interesting designs that depict different characters in a childlike, inquisitive manner. This latest design – for their second album Powerplant – saw the band steer away from bright and bold colours in favour of a more subdued, doodle-like illustration that reveals more depth the more you look at it. 03. Thundercat – Drunk The shot for the cover was taken in Flying Lotus' pool This 70s-style album cover for Thundercat's 'Drunk' certainly catches the eye. The vinyl edition also features individually designed sleeves for each side with artwork created by the musician's friend, Atlanta illustrator and comedian Zack Fox. The photograph for the main cover was taken in Flying Lotus' pool, with Thundercat telling the Independent that the shoot "felt totally natural". 04. Gingerlys – Gingerlys Notice the band name and title written in graffiti font Comic book artist and illustrator Eliza Walton created this brilliant album cover art for Brooklyn-based five-piece band Gingerlys. Depicting a city scene with bold shapes and striking characters, Walton's choice and use of colour is perhaps the biggest thing to take away from this work. The graffiti font used for the band name and album name is also a particularly nice touch. 05. Beck – Colors The Deluxe Vinyl edition cover features a central hexagon die cut with varied coloured shapes Speaking of his creation, album cover artist Jimmy Turrell said that Beck commissioned both him and Steve Stacey to create the entire visual representation of his latest album. Packed full of bold colour, Turrell says he and Stacey looked back to their youth for inspiration, considering what stimulated them visually as kids. The Deluxe Vinyl edition allows fans to remove and change pieces to create their own bespoke cover. 06. Julien Baker – Turn Out The Lights The freehand font style complements the painting style of this sleeve This painted cover for Julien Baker's second album is as beautiful as they come. Using a colour palette that's perfect for the emotional vulnerability present in Baker's songs, it's a design that seamlessly flows through to the vinyl sleeve design, with illustrative flowers delicately placed throughout. 07. Wolf Parade – Cry Cry Cry A simple but extremely successful design for Wolf Parade Marking the Canadian's band first album in seven years, Wolf Parade's Cry Cry Cry is a great example of how simple linework and straightforward graphic design can produce an album cover that is not only successful but striking. The grid-based layout is a classic style but one that works especially well here – particularly when it comes to the bold colour choice. 08. Half Waif – form/a Half Waif also featured in our 2016 best album cover round-up We featured Half Waif's 2016 release in our roundup of the best album covers 2016 and songwriter Nandi Rose Plunkett has once again produced a beautiful album cover for her 2017 EP form/a. The cover photograph was taken by band member Adan Carlo and hand-stitched by Chilean artist María Aparicio Puente, who is known for her avant-garde embroidery. 09. Little Simz – Stillness in Wonderland McKay Felt created this immersive illustration for Little Simz This in-depth album cover illustration for UK artist Little Simz is strikingly detailed, offering an emotive look into the inspirations of the album. The design shows Little Simz's head split open, revealing trees from the roots below her chin, and surrounded by a cityscape of her hometown of London. It was created by McKay Felt, who has previously worked with Thundercat and Flying Lotus. 10. Moses Sumney – Aromanticism A simple photograph speaks a thousand words in this album design Not featuring the name of the artist or album on the cover art is always a risky move but sometimes, the image speaks for itself. This statuesque, beautiful photograph of Sumney in a blank and bare room is perhaps a metaphor for the album's deeply moving content. The fact we are unable to see Sumney's head in the piece also makes it much more stimulating and intriguing. 11. Brother Ali – All The Beauty In This Whole Life This album cover art was a created by hip-hop head Daud Sutton Classical Islamic geometry was used throughout the packaging for rapper Brother Ali's latest release. Adorned with arabesque ornamentation it was created by Daud Sutton.The english lettering was done by Qasim Arif, and Rhymesayers – Ali's record label – in-house designer Alex Everson. 12. St. Vincent – Masseduction St. Vincent chose model Carlotta Kohl to feature on her album cover This bold album cover art set off the beginning of St Vincent's – aka Annie Clark's – visual representation for the whole Masseduction campaign. The model used in the photograph was Carlotta Kohl, who also features in another campaign photo with Clark. Placing Kohl off-centre, to the right-hand side of the cover is a brilliant choice. 13. Caddywhompus – Odd Hours Illustrator Max Seckel creates beauty in rare places Acrylic artist Max Seckel works primarily with subdued, pastel tones, and he uses his work to explore the beauty of the everyday. Weaving the outdoors with the indoors, his work juxtaposes material items against lush, natural settings. This piece for Caddywhompus is particularly striking. Placing the band name and album title in the sign is a great touch. 14. Lorde – Melodrama Artist Sam McKinniss and Lorde reportedly bonded over their love of Prince Brooklyn-based artist Sam McKinniss painted this intimate, blue-lit portrait of Lorde for her second album cover. Inspiration for the piece came from the album itself, which is all about 'nighttime attitudes' and the before-and-after of city parties. McKinniss worked from a photograph taken of Lorde in a friend's apartment in Brooklyn. 15. Jay Som – Everybody Works A mismatch of images makes this Jay Som cover stand out This screenprinted, primary coloured album cover art was used for Jay Som's debut album Everybody Works. Featuring layered imagery that combines an owl's face and soccer balls, the fresh, unique approach is what makes this design stand out. The overlapping imagery on top of an otherwise classic layout makes for a modern approach. 16. Feist – Pleasure Feist runs towards colour in this album cover art The front cover of Pleasure is adorned with bougainvillea, its vibrant colours contrasting against a darkened sky that pretty much perfectly sums up the album's shifting tone – of seeing the light despite the darkness shrouding your mind. Feist was living in Los Angeles last winter and drove past the bougainvillea building almost every night; it was two weeks before her eureka moment. 17. Alvvays – Antisocialites A National Geographic photo was used for this cover art Canadian band Alvvays used a National Geographic photo for the cover of its second album. The original photo was taken by B. Anthony Stewart, and enitled 'Campers await breeze to sail fiberglass dinghies, Camp Sebago Wohelo, Sebago Lake, Maine'. The updated version features bright colours and a high contrast. 18. Jane Weaver – Modern Kosmology The font used on Modern Kosmology is as inspiring as they come It's this album cover's use of typography that really makes it stand out. The mirrored writing and complimentary colours mean it maintains its impact no matter which angle you view it from, while the soft font chosen for the album's title at the bottom contrasts nicely with the rest of the design choices. It's a brave and bold design. 19. Hand Habits – Wildly Idle (Humble Before The Void) An album cover design that's both flat and deep Featuring Hand Habits – AKA Meg Duffy – sitting strong and nonchalant, in an abstracted room, this is an album cover design that's both flat and deep. Using bright colours for the walls of the room and then black and white, blurry imagery for Duffy and her belongings makes for an emotive reckoning and a design that stays with you long after you've looked at it. 20. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN Lamar's cover art was one of the most controversial designs of 2017 Love it or hate it, the release of Kendrick Lamar's album DAMN. was an album cover design that made waves in both the design and music communities. It sparked a huge range of 'DAMN.' memes that spread across Twitter and saw Lamar's design beginning to break down the wall between himself and the audience. Read more: Selena Gomez releases worst single cover ever The 20 best album covers from the 70s Artists redesign their top 10 albums of 2016 View the full article

Giving your portfolio a quick once-over to freshen it up is always a great idea, and as we start a new year, what better time is there to get on with it? We've made it dead easy for you, by having a look at the portfolios of some heavyweight designers to see what they do particularly well. So here are five quick – genuinely quick – tips to smarten up the way you present your work to the world. 01. Cut, kill, destroy Shelby Hipol's portfolio site only features his best work This is one of the tougher tips to follow, but it's possibly the most rewarding. If you've got your portfolio looking pretty lean as it is, further cutting is going to be hard, hard graft. Do it anyway. Cut, kill and destroy 10 per cent of whatever you think of as being finished. Portfolio 20 pages long? Get it down to 18. Got 40 projects on your website? Make it 36. You have to exercise caution here, as you don't want your body of work to appear too light. But, generally speaking, give your portfolio one last brutal edit and it'll really sing. Check out the portfolio site of Shelby Hipol, the NYC designer currently at McCann NY: there's no wasted word or image here. We're guessing Hipol could easily triple the content on his portfolio. But he mirrors its minimal design by only including his very best projects. 02. Tell a new story Herbert Matter's portfolio site opens with a bold intro image The simplest way to refresh your portfolio without adding any new work to it is this: rearrange what you've already got. Think of it like a film. Screenwriters talk about 'plot points' – the tent poles upon which they hang their story. You can tell a new story by simply moving around your plot points, which are your projects. This method works particularly well with physical portfolios, but the principles work just as well online. Should your career-defining work go first or last? Do you really want your favourite project lost in the middle? What's the very last thing you want the reader to see? Check out the portfolio site for the late Herbert Matter. It starts with a big, bold intro page. You enter and then land on a video about his visual language. It's the story of his life and his work. 03. Be an agent provocateur George Lois' website features a prominent carousel of quotes endorsing him It doesn't get much quicker than this: make a list of your most satisfied clients, your favourite commissions, the design teacher who gave you the best grades. Email them and ask for a recommendation, a quick quote explaining how creative you are, or how you brought the project in under budget, or how you never missed a lecture and smashed all of your exams. Go steady with it. You definitely don't want to overdo this. But the odd recommendation can make a big difference to a potential client or possible employer. Check out the portfolio site of the legendary designer George Lois: "the agent provocateur who triggered advertising's Creative Revolution," goes one quote on his front page. How could you resist looking through his stuff after reading that? 04. Make it easy to use Ryan Booth's site gives a concise rundown about him, key clients and awards on one page, with clear links to his key projects and contact details You could have a lean, well-organised portfolio, complete with plenty of great recommendations from clients. But one really obvious thing could be letting you down: is you portfolio easy to navigate? If your portfolio is online, don't sacrifice usability for overly convoluted or gimmicky design. If you have a print portfolio, think about page numbers, chapter headings, colour co-ordination, maybe even a ribbon bookmark, anything that helps the reader out. Hopefully, whoever's reading it will be looking at your work more than once, flicking from this project to that one and back again. Do them a favour. Make it easy to read, chronologically or otherwise. Have a look how Ryan Booth does it: about, clients, recognition – all on the homepage. Done. Simple. Really easy. You know who he is and what he's done and you don't need to click into loads of different pages. 05. Don't look like your dog just died Ed Fella's handwritten-style portfolio site puts his photo centre stage This one's open to debate. But, at time when more people are familiar with our Twitter name than they are with our face, a photo could make all the difference. A proper photo, that is. Not an illustration. Not a multilayered photo-manipulation thing. And definitely not some arty, clipped, black and white shot in which you look like your dog's just died. A portrait – head and shoulders. A photo can stop your portfolio looking cold and clinical, and help the reader get a feel for who you are. Sometimes it's nice to see the whites of a person's eyes. Look at the veteran designer Ed Fella. Click on his site and you get a real feeling for who he is and what he does. And his photo helps with that. Liked this? Then read these: 32 brilliant design portfolios to inspire you 8 great graphic design portfolio sites for 2018 20 tools to make you more creative in 2018 View the full article

Industry experts reveal what it takes to succeed in the games industry in ImagineFX 157 – on sale now! Computer games graphics and art styles have come a long way since Pong and Pac Man, and there are plenty of opportunities for artists to get involved and shape how digital worlds look. Take Raphael Lacoste for example, the art director behind the huge Assassin's Creed series. We talk to him to discover how he tweaks the world around him into an immersive space that players can spend hours exploring. Buy issue 157 of ImagineFX here Elsewhere in issue 157 we look inside Giorgio Baroni's sketchbook and discover why he likes to mix concepts from the past and the future, plus in his workshop, Elijah McNeal shows you how to create a futuristic weapon. On top of that there's reader's art in our FXPose, and reviews of all the latest tools and books. Bursting at the spine with creative inspiration, you won't want to miss ImagineFX issue 157! Check out what's in store with a look at the lead features, below. Never miss an issue: Subscribe to ImagineFX here Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to ImagineFX Small is beautiful Discover what life is like in a small studio Small studios have got their work cut out for them. Not only do they have to compete with triple-A studios, but they also have to achieve amazing results with fewer people. It's not all hard work though, as we find out when we chat to artists from small games studios and discover their unique benefits. The Art of Assassin's Creed Origins Art director Raphael Lacoste reveals what it takes to make a virtual world Reality is all around us, so why try and recreate it? That's the thought process of Raphael Lacoste, the art director behind the phenomenally successful Assassin's Creed franchise. Discover how he uses reality to create new environments with our in-depth interview. Artist portfolio: Jesse van Dijk Explore the world of Destiny 2's art director With his work as a video game art director, Jesse van Dijk wants his work to be three things: relatable, memorable, and surprising. While it's rare for one image to nail all three, a voyage through his portfolio reveals how he successfully created a "mythic science-fiction world" for Destiny 2. Create your own character IP Create a playable avatar with this workshop Ever thought about creating your very own video game character? With this workshop from concept artist and illustrator Devon Candy-Lee you'll learn how she creates an avatar with a character and an identity all of its own. ImagineFX is the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Special Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to ImagineFX for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly... Related articles: How to press start on your game art career 6 great concept game art tips How neuroscience and UX impacts video game design View the full article

As with any component-based library, managing state in Vue can be tricky. While the application is small, it’s possible to keep things in sync by emitting events when values change. However, this can get brittle and prone to errors as the application grows, so it may be better to get a more centralised solution in from the start. If you’re familiar with Flux and Redux, Vuex works much the same. State is held in one centralised location and is linked to the main Vue application. Everything that happens within the application is reflected somewhere within that state. Components can select what information is relevant to them and be notified if it changes, much like if it was part of its internal state. A Vuex store is made up of four things – the state, getters, mutations and actions. Changing state The state is a single object that holds all the necessary data for the entire application. The way this object gets structured depends on the project, but would typically hold at least one value for each view. Getters work like computed properties do inside components. Their value is derived from the state and any parameters passed into it. They can be used to filter lists without having to duplicate that logic inside every component that uses that list. The state cannot be edited directly. Any updates must be performed through mutation methods supplied inside the store. These are usually simple actions that perform one change at a time. Each mutation method receives the state as an argument, which is then updated with the values needed to change. Mutations need to be synchronous in order for Vuex to understand what has changed. For asynchronous logic — like a server call — actions can be used instead. Actions can return Promises, which lets Vuex know that the result will change in the future as well as enabling developers to chain actions together. Getters work like computed properties do inside components. Their value is derived from the state and any parameters passed into it Working with commits To perform a mutation, they have to be committed to the store by calling commit() and passing the name of the mutation method required. Actions need to be dispatched in a similar way with dispatch(). It’s good practice to have actions commit mutations rather than commit them manually. That way, all updating logic is held together in the same place. Components can then dispatch the actions directly, so long as they are mapped using the mapActions() method supplied by Vuex. To avoid overcomplicating things, the store can also be broken up into individual modules that look after their own slice of the state. Each module can register its own state, getters, mutations and actions. State is combined between each module and grouped by their module name, in much the same way as combineReducers() works within Redux.pport. Speed up the first load to improve performance By default, the entire contents of the application end up inside one JavaScript file, which can result in a slow page load. A lot of that content is never used on the first screen the user visits. Instead it can be split off from the main bundle and loaded in as and when needed.Vue makes this process incredibly simple to set up, as vue-router has built-in support for lazy loading. const AsyncAbout = () => import(‘./About.vue’); const router = new VueRouter({ routes: [ { path: ‘/about, component: AsyncAbout } ] }) Vue supports using dynamic imports to define components. These return Promises, which resolve to the component itself. The router can then use that component to render the page like normal. These work alongside code splitting built in to webpack, which makes it possible to use features like magic comments to define how components should be split. Want to make your website faster? Developer Jason Lengstorf offers a workshop on modern front-end performance strategies and techniques Jason Lengstorf is a developer who is all about improving performance in his code and his work life. To find out more why not attend his workshop at Generate New York from 25-27 April 2018. Here he will be teaching strategies and techniques for improving perceived load times, as well as actual load times, using only front-end techniques including: The skeleton loading pattern Better loading for static assets Lazy loading Service Workers Better build processes and more! Want to join Jason? Then get your ticket now Related articles: 7 expert tips for nailing web performance How to improve the performance of ecommerce sites 3 top tools for testing web performance View the full article

Researchers warn of copycat type attacks as exploit code used in Mirai variant goes public. View the full article

Sometimes getting back to the basics is vital to staying on top of your game, as renewing your skills can reinvigorate your passion and you never know, you may just find an option or method you hadn't noticed or tried before. In 3D World's Essentials column each month, Vertex speaker Mike Griggs delves into the fundamental elements of 3D, which cross the boundaries of application, to reinforce your knowledge and open you up to essential tools that are the bedrock of being a 3D artist. The Knife tool It may go by many names: knife, slice or cut to name but a few, but effectively the implementation is the same – it cuts through polygons and edges to either split objects up or to create new boundaries within a mesh from which to create new geometry. A good slicing tool should enable an artist to cut either in a way that is sympathetic to the existing geometry or has the ability to slice through everything due to a creative decision. Some cutting tools offer the ability to create gaps when slicing; this can be really useful for all kinds of modelling tasks, especially when the software can cap the open cuts. This is because in most 3D applications meshes are seen as shells rather than being solid; there are some applications that can see meshes as solid, but you’ll find that they are usually limited to CAD and sculpting applications. Some applications offer the ability to create curved slices, which is useful for creating organic shapes, and if the application has the ability to place images in the viewport as a guide, using a curved knife tool is a great way to match reference. The other area where a cutting tool can be useful is in defining polygon flow on meshes that are going to be animated, as well as for making sure that n-gons are divided into quads or triangles for model export. 01. A simple Cut While it may seem easy to just use a slice or knife to cut across a plain mesh, be wary of creating geometry that can cause issues later in the modelling process. The classic example would be creating an n-gon (a polygon with more than four sides) which when subdivided creates a different shape than the one that was expected. The cut tools can be used to divide any problem n-gons into quad or triangular polygons. 02. Split objects While a knife or slice tool simply cuts through an existing geometry, there may be options in the software to suit your desired workflow. Some applications allow the object to not be directly split, which is useful if the model is being retopologised. Other options enable the choice of removing one of the cut elements, which is handy when creating new meshes as quickly as possible, without the need to delete unwanted elements. 03. Create gaps Some pieces of software come with the ability to create gaps when cutting a line. This can be a huge time-saver, especially when ‘caps’ are added to fill the ends of the cut, creating new geometry. As ever, you need to be mindful with any technique for adding geometry – make sure it is creating polygons that are flowing correctly for the final use. The knife or slice tool can be used to ‘retopologise’ any potential problem areas back into the desired flow. 04. Curved slices While most knife or slice tools can offer cuts based on points across a surface, one of the most creative tools available in some applications is a curved slice tool. This function is especially useful in sculpting applications where it is analogous to using a real cutter when working with clay. Learning how to manipulate the curve is key as every application has a different way of adding intermediate points in the curve. More from Mike Griggs at Vertex Mike Griggs will be holding a workshop at Vertex on 3D fundamentals. But why do we need to learn the fundamentals for 3D when surely the software has become so good that the basics are irrelevant? The truth is that as the tools for CGI have become more powerful it enables one artist to now have the potential skill set of a studio from 10 years ago. The real world has a lot to teach CG artists; for example learning how a camera works is directly transferable to setting up a shot in 3D, while life drawing is key to sculpting and character animation. A good CG artist should see a computer and its software as just another tool amongst many, which will let their talent shine and enable them to create more and better work. To book a ticket to Mike Grigg's workshop at Vertex 2018 head over to the Vertex site, where you will find information on all the day's activities, from keynote talks to the panel discussion and recruitment fair. You may be interested: 1. The ethics of digital humans 2. Scott Ross at Vertex 3. Why Vertex is a must for 3D artists View the full article

It's important that designers have a solid understanding of the rules of typography, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for some creativity. Just as with any area of design, certain typographic approaches become fashionable or fall out of favour. These can be due to technological advances, or one piece of design proving to be so effective it spawns lots of imitators and a trend develops. To create this roundup, we spoke to some of the top names in the business, and asked them for their thoughts on the biggest typography trends of 2017, as well as their predictions for what would be hot in 2018. Here's what they said... 01. Serif fonts Chobani's new look brings warmth to fonts "One typographic trend that I predict will be popular in 2018 is the use of warm, 1970s-evoking serif typefaces," says Jeremiah Shoaf, a freelance designer and founder of Typewolf. "I think this is a reaction against the cold, sterile neo-grotesques like Helvetica that seem to be dominating the design landscape." Shoaf comments on the recent Chobani rebrand as a prime example. "Its new bespoke typeface has a retro charm that brings to mind ITC Clearface and Bookman, two typefaces that will forever be associated with the good vibes of the 70s," he smiles. 02. 90s-inspired type Could we be seeing more retro fonts like 2017's Formula 1 rebrand? "2016 was all about geometric sans typefaces," says art director Rick Banks. "This carried on to some extent in 2017 (Moonpig, Sky Sports rebrand) but much less so. This year we have seen an increase in serifs (Southbank Centre, Chobani, and Medium rebrands). "I think next year we will see designers reacting more against geometric type . I think brands will want type with more character and standout value. It wouldn't surprise me if we see more 90s inspired typography – following on from the new F1 logo." 03. Custom type Text editors like Atom are popular with coders Dalton Maag founder and type designer Bruno Maag agrees with Banks. "Geometric sans typefaces continue to dominate the typographic landscape, but we can see a trend toward more condensed designs with a grid-like structure," he comments. "It also seems as if there is a resurgence of 70s inspired type, such as the new F1 identity." Maag also mentions a rise in the use of open source fonts in digital environments. This is thanks to a dramatic improvement in quality over the past few years, but also offers the benefits of (potentially considerable) cost savings, and means designers can avoid having to navigate the complexities of licensing for digital usage on a number of different devices. However, it does limit the role type can play as a brand tool. "We can see in-house design teams increasingly championing custom font solutions to close the gap between brand expression and controlling technical and logistic aspects of font usage," Maag continues. "A further trend in [custom] type is to involve scientific research on aspects of accessibility, and designers have to concern themselves with science." 04. Colour fonts Black is so last year "I think colour fonts (see FontMaker by FontSelf) will be a big hit in 2018. The user-friendly interface and the possibility to add colour as another dimension to typography represents a huge opportunity for designers and brands to add identity to their designs," says typographer Alex Trochut. "The fact that not only Illustrator but also Photoshop will support colour fonts opens up a door to create photographic typography, which represents a whole new canvas to play with. I'm very excited to see what are the good results coming out of this new technology." 05. No trends Anthony Burrill urges designers to forge their own route "I don’t think there are typographic trends any more; if there are I find it hard to identify them," says designer and print maker Anthony Burrill. "Depending on who you follow on social media, type foundries, designers, lettering artists, graffiti artist, there are numerous trends that simultaneously coexist. Scroll through your Instagram feed and you’ll see historic type examples rubbing shoulders with the latest type animation techniques." He acknowledges that this can be overwhelming, but offers some solutions to help you out. "Is possible to navigate your way through this visual avalanche. Seek out work that you connect with. By gaining more in-depth knowledge it’s possible to have a meaningful relationship with type design, rather than being dazzled with the latest technique. "Seek out work that informs your own work and inspires you, and use it as a launch pad for your own creativity. It's important to stay informed and have an opinion about work by other designers, but even more important to develop your individual response and approach to work." Related articles: 7 new typography tools for 2017 The 8 biggest typography mistakes designers make The rules of responsive web typography View the full article

You're reading Postcards: First Sneak-Peek, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Now that 2017 is almost over, we are ready to show you what we’ll release in 2018. It’ll start with the release of Postcards, a tool that will help you to create and generate beautiful emails/newsletters for your website. It’s designed for any kind of business. View the full article

Another year has ended and the tooling landscape has become simultaneously more exciting and complex. It seems that every month there’s a new post about the convoluted and intimidating nature of the JavaScript tooling ecosystem. There are countless new libraries, frameworks, plugins, build-related tools, and so much more, released every month, each claiming to help you improve your productivity or solve a specific development problem. To start the year off right, we’ve done the legwork for you, weeding through 12 months worth of new releases and updates to bring you five of the newest, most practical and exciting options for JavaScript coders, designers and full-stack developers. 01. KUTE.js http://thednp.github.io/kute.js JavaScript animation engine with performance as its primary feature. This one grabs your attention immediately due to the gorgeous and super-smooth animation on the home page. The API looks elegant and well worth trying out. 02. Timeline.js https://ilkeryilmaz.github.io/timelinejs A jQuery plugin with a twist on the carousel component, for the specific use case of creating a carousel timeline (ie a slider that progresses based on chronological points) with lots of visual and functional customisation options. Tools like Timeline.js can revolutionise the way you develop with JavaScript in 2018 03. SweetAlert2 https://limonte.github.io/sweetalert2 Fork of the original SweetAlert, this is a replacement for native JavaScript popups like 'alert()' and 'confirm()'. The modals are attractive, responsive, customisable, and accessible. 04. Muuri https://haltu.github.io/muuri JavaScript API for responsive, sortable, filterable, and drag-and-drop Masonry/Packery-style grid layouts. The demos are really nice and there are lots of options available to customise the grid for different layout types. 05. Infinite Scroll https://infinite-scroll.com Unlike most of the rest of this list, this is an old tool but it’s been rewritten for version 3. New version includes URL changes while scrolling, no jQuery dependency, and lots of optional settings via a clean API. Want to learn more about JavaScript? Full-stack JavaScript developer Wes Bos will be going through what's new in JavaScript at our own web design event, Generate New York, on 25-27 April 2018. You can view the full lineup in all its glory, and book your tickets now, at generateconf.com. We can't wait to see you there! Join at to find out what's new in the world of JavaScript Related articles: 21 top examples of JavaScript 12 common JavaScript problems answered 20 JavaScript tips to blow your mind View the full article

Mozilla has patched one critical vulnerability in its Thunderbird email client along with two bugs rated high. View the full article

Houston, Texas, was a city obsessed with three things: sports, money and guns. Greg Ruth tried to fit in. As a boy, he'd go to football games. He liked to critique the "outfits" and would ask fellow attendees which team they thought had the coolest team badge, or the neatest helmet design. They answered him with blank stares. 50 tips that will make you a better illustratorWatching other people play games was "epically dull", so his mind would wander. He thought about nuclear war, laser blasters and falling in love with women from outer space. Back at home, a shag carpet became a furry space beast on which GI Joe figures acted out sprawling melodramas. He read Raymond Chandler, Ray Bradbury, the Dune series by Frank Herbert and pulp novels, and he liked big band music. Superego-Egoid - "I count this as a symbolist image of myself, rather than a self-portrait. I think this was only my second graphite piece" He watched B-movies and Star Trek reruns, and Abbott and Costello marathons. He spent much of his childhood withdrawing into an imagined world – a skill that he'd use in adulthood to build a career as an artist. "I hid from Texas," he says. "I didn't belong in the nest into which I was hatched. So art became the other world into which I could flee to safety, until I was able to actually flee." A freaky Conan Conan - "Another cornerstone for me, this time with the estimable Kurt Busiek. Until Indeh, I learned more doing this series than any other as to what comics could and should do well" Ruth fled to Brooklyn and attended the Pratt Institute, an art and design school, where he tried architecture and fine art, before finally establishing himself as a comic book artist. He now lives in Massachusetts, and recently created a comic with Ethan Hawke, but previous to this, a music video with Prince and a picture book with Barack Obama. Ruth works on film art and book covers, and wrote his own New York Times bestselling graphic novel. He also created a new, weekly, self-initiated illustration, which became The 52 Weeks Project. Agatha's Mirror - "One of my favourite pieces. It was for a short story entitled Dragonkin. It got left because it skewed a bit too young for the story inside. It’s tough when you have to reject a good piece despite its merits" Ruth's busy. Working across so many different disciplines can pose problems. He once drew two comics simultaneously for Dark Horse, both 22 pages, the final issue of Freaks of the Heartland and the first issue of Conan: Born on the Battlefield. The workload alone was tough, but tougher still was the clash of genres. With Freaks, Ruth knew the story inside out – what he describes as a classic small-town gothic-horror story. He'd established a colour palette, a narrative rhythm. Conan, on the other hand, was a pulpy adventure book, garish and raucous in every way. For the first issue of Conan, he tried a Freaks-style approach. It didn't work: "Sometimes when you're making breakfast and dinner at the same time, you end up with pot-roast omelettes and fresh jam on your asparagus. It ain't so great. Nowadays, I have a better grasp of my own limitations." Freaks of the Heartland - "This was my first collaborative full-length graphic novel with Steve Niles. It was a sparse script that let me rush in and fill every corner, and a defining book for my time in comics" Ruth didn't find his groove until well into the second issue of Conan. So now, when working on a big job, he focuses on it entirely until the project begins "cruising on its own". He may take a book cover or some editorial work – particularly if one project complements the other in some way – but mostly he tries "not to cross the streams". He also likes to create a soundtrack for big graphic novels. This way, he can listen to music to help him get into the mood, tone and themes of the narrative. It's helpful if he does have to take a break to work on something else. "When I pop the soundtrack on, coming into work, I get right into the world of it." Some gigs, however, are just too good to turn down… Prince the cheerleader "Why would any human-shaped person say no to Prince?" Ruth says. He helped create a video for the legendary musician in 2004 – one of his favourite ever jobs. He created the dark, moody world in which Prince and his band perform. When the money men got twitchy about some of the video's themes, Prince stepped in and funded the project with his own money. "Prince pretty much left us to go nuts on that," Ruth says, "and was our biggest cheerleader and defender." Not every client is like Prince. He made another music video for American singer-songwriter Rob Thomas, which was "much more of a corporate affair". His work in films – where some actors have the power to veto the posters he creates – can be equally restrictive. "The movie industry," Ruth says, "likes to repeat what's proven to work, even if it's simply chasing diminishing returns or risking derivativeness." Indeh Battle Skull Cave - "One of the first big sort of adventure-epic attempts with graphite. Ethan Hawke and I wanted to tell a different story than the usual us-against-them battles that dominate stories of white settlers invading tribal lands. But violence aplenty happened." Greg recently accepted a job to design the poster for Ethan Hawke's 2018 film Blaze. "Ethan let me go crazy as I can," he says. They have a good working relationship. His current project is Meadowlark, his second graphic novel with the actor-director. While on a book tour for the first, Indeh, the pair tossed around ideas for scenes, images and characters, which grew into what's set to be an "epic crime melodrama". Indeh worked the other way round. Ethan initially pictured it as a film, so the final story came from a 300-page script. "More an act of pruning than growing," Ruth says. "I kind of love the differences between the assignments. There's something really invigorating about tackling new ways of thinking and seeing, and it all dovetails nicely into my overall work ethic of always seeking to tackle projects that scare the shit out of me." Daredevil for Mondo - "This one was a total lark. I just woke up one day and had this exact image in my head, drew it, posted it and it went wild, surprisingly. Mondo got in touch about doing a print and had this cool idea about using red paper." Ruth wakes up at 5am and works until around 6pm, breaking in between to take his kids to school and bring them home again. There's the odd all-nighter here and there. But sticking to this routine helps Ruth with his huge workload. "Inspiration or The Muse," he says, "comes more often if it knows where to find you." Darkly things Indeh - "My favourite graphic novel and the hardest thing I’ve ever done, with a new creative partner I never expected to have. This book opened my eyes and changed my life." Being so prolific has a practical purpose, too. Ruth aims to be recession-proof. If picture books are going through a slump, he has film work. If the movie work dries up then there are book covers. Having different sources of income also means that he's able to work on the graphic novels he really wants to work on. Ruth is currently developing a picture book, a script, more book covers, more movie posters, another graphic novel of his own, another 52 Weeks series… he's as busy as ever! But Ruth doesn't like to overthink what it is that he's trying to achieve. Instead, he tries to remember who he's making art for in the first place. "I honestly try to avoid over-analysing my work. I think this comes from being at Pratt and having that Clement Greenbergian, modernist bullshit crammed down my throat. "The audience is, in many ways, everything. Not so much to serve their assumed desires, rather to try and force me into an outside perspective, so that whatever I'm doing lands and reads. You have to be both the fan and the creator." This article was originally published in issue 153 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Buy issue 153 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: How to be an award-winning illustrator 10 hottest illustrators of 2017 How to break into children's illustration View the full article